c. and when they were gone out of sight they erected their Statues and conceited that the power of their Numens was confined to those Stocks and Stones and raised Temples to their honour that they might keep them near to themselves and have recourse to them in all their necessities As the Children of Israel who though they heard Gods voice and saw fire upon the Mount and the Pillar of a Cloud and of fire in the Red Sea as visible tokens of his presence yet because the Thunder and Lightning was terrible they could not endure it and because Moses was gone up to the Mountain for forty daies they gave him for gone whom they wished to speak unto them and now they lacked some visible Gods such as they saw in Egypt and forced Aaron to make them a Golden Calf and cried saying Make us Gods to go before us for as for this Moses we know not what is become of him And when they had their Idols to their mind they said with joy These be thy Gods O Israel Thus the greatest part of Mankind though they had in them by the light of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficient knowledge of God yet they glorified him not as God neither were thankful Ro. 1.21 c. but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves wise they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like unto corruptible Man and to Birds and four-footed Beasts and creeping things wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own Bodies between themselves who changed the Truth of God into a Lie and worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creatour who is blessed or evermore Amen And this carnal and gross humour cauled the opinion of carnal Gods and of a carnal worship by them of the true God Wherefore God knowing the dull temper of the Jews and their fond disposition of being like unto the rest of the World commanded them Altars and Sacrifices of Beasts and Birds to the true God which otherwise they would have erected and raised to false Gods Till the time of Reformation God winked at this Ignorance in them and the rest of the World and brought in by his Son the full revelation of the True God and his True worship in Spirit and in Truth The CONTENTS Natural Religion Supernatural Religion Revelation TITLE III. Of Religion ALL men being convinced that there is a God from what they are and from what is within their Souls and Bodies as also from the Magnificent Beautiful and Harmonious works of God in the World round about them and that he is most Powerful Wise Holy Just and Gracious c. It must necessarily follow that this God ought to be worshipped and served Natural Religion which is the Natural Religion due to God from all his Creatures who do also express it in one kind or other but more especially the Rational Creatures who are most able and most obliged to give unto God this their reasonable service and most especially Mankind who have most need and who stand in peculiar relation to God who made them but a little lower than the Angels and Lords of this Inferiour World and designed them for the Inheritance of Glory with Angels and Arch-Angels in heaven To which Estate they should have passed by Grace and Favour if they had kept his Law which he first gave them and then all their religious Applications to God should have been in the quality of Saints in Honour and Praise and Thanksgiving for evermore But since the First man did disobey and die all since do and suffer the same sin and death therefore all their religious Addresses to God must be made in the quality of Sinners and Sufferers Being therefore thus sinful and miserable in all their transactions from time to time with a Deity they have been complaining and bemoaning their condition and imploring relief and mercy to cleanse the stain of their Guilt and to remove their sorrow and plague and after pardon to return praise and thanks For this purpose they all along poured out their Supplications and offered their gifts and Sacrifices of their best things even of their Children sometimes by a blind zeal thinking to pacifie and attone if it might be the wrath of a provoked God This way of Service in their approaches to Heaven Nature prompted them unto even to do the best they could to purifie themselves and appease their Maker Yet even this they quickly forgot and performed the same Devotion to the Creatures that were below themselves and forsook their Creatour out of an idle fancy that they could not see him nor hear nor feel him because he was far above out of their sight and reach Therefore this Natural Information of Divine duty and worship did not do the work as is proved by the experience of Idolaters for some thousands of years Supernatural Religion Therefore it was necessary that there should be a supernatural Revelation from God to Man for his conduct and guidance in the way of Religion In order to which practice and the end of Salvation whereto it was to tend God that was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself revealed his Will what he would have done by Man and his Promises what was to be had of him for a Reward by degrees more and more till Christ came from the bosom of his Father who brought in all Perfection and taught us all things As namely 1. By common instinct unto all men 2. By special Impulse to the first Fathers 3. By Dreams and Visions to the Prophets 4. By Providences and Dispensations of all sorts 5. By Miracles and great Wonders 6. By Christ Jesus saying This is my welbeloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Heb. 1.1 So great is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to our Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last daies spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath made Heir of all things That is Before the Law immediately By the Law Angels and Moses mediating By the Gospel Christ and his Spirit mediating Revelation The Subject of Gods Revelation all along more or less is Gods Bounty Blessedness and Mans Duty Holiness The Manner all along move or less is Instinct oral Instruction Writing in Tables Writing in Heart the Law Will Testament and Word of God This Divine commerce and interposure of Revelation of Gods Will is the true means of serving God aright which was never wanting in some degree sufficient to all that endeavoured after it But through Carelesness and Sensuality the greatest part of Mankind have been imposed upon by fantastical Dreams and magical Divinations of Astrologers Sooth-sayers Poets Philosophers Enchanters Prophets Priests Running to Oracles and Entrails of sacrificed Beasts and Flying of
and Piety and ought to be tolerated till they may be amended 5. Who separate for corruptions not directly impious contrary to the express word of God but only by way of consequence which consequence the party defendant doth not acknowledg but if they could perceive it would be ready to forsake them 6. Who separate for matters in themselves indifferent and no waies determined by any word or Law of God either for the affirmative or negative but either are orders instituted by the Church or Customs insinuated by tacit consent 7. Who in a Synod super-determine Doctrines of Faith by a major part and expel the minor for dissenting for though matters of Manners Order and Policy may and ought to be determined by a major part yet matters of Doctrine seem to require an universal concurrence and joint-consent of the whole Synod or else with more safety are left undetermined Now if they seem hereticks or Sectaries who desert or expect those whose opinions and manners are but somewhat corrupt much more they are so who desert or expel those who in their Tenets and manners are the sounder party for these of all sorts of Hereticks are the most carnal and sinful It may appear therefore from what been said upon Heresy and the Name and Thing That no error in fundamentals is or can be meant thereby but only a separation for some Grand corruptions real or pretended in Doctrine or Manners The Name of Heretick is now become odious and a Nick-name to all that differ in opinions styl'd fundamentals which whether they be so or no is yet undetermined and God knows but that they shall ever so remain And those that hold these contrary opinions each party being alike confident of the Truth on their side do persecute one another not only to Excommunication but to confiscation imprisonment banishment and death But what course ought to be taken indeed with such Men SECT IV. Concerning those turbulent Persons that were amongst the Galatians How Hereticks are to be dealt with Gal. 5.12 who would subvert their state of Christian Liberty The wish of St. Paul was that they might be cut off i. e. not castrated for that is barbarous nor excommunicated for then he might have commanded it but destroy'd by the immediate hand of God Yet in this wish of the Apostle this must necessarily be supposed that he wished not positively the execution of it unless those persons continued incorrigible For who can possibly doubt but that S. Paul's velle went with a malle to have them rather reform'd than destroy'd And again if they would not be reform'd who sees not but that St. Paul might lawfully wish that some few turbulent deceivers should rather be cut off by the hand of God than that by them the whole Church of the Galatians should be seduced and their state of Christian Liberty subverted This fact of St. Paul in wishing the death of these impostors must not by us be drawn into example as if to us it were therefore lawful to wish a curse upon those whom we account Hereticks and troublers of the Church For 1. Christ hath given us a precept to the contrary That we should bless and not curse yea bless them that curse us and pray for them that persecute us Matth. 5.44 And our Rule is to practise by precept and not by any example from Men or an Angel from heaven Unless the precept admit exceptions and the cases of those exceptions be as manifest to us as to those Divine Persons who made use of them against the generality of the Precept 2. Where among us shall we find the Man in whom there resides that measure of wisdom which was in Paul who by help of the Spirit wherewith he abounded was a true discerner of Spirits and could exactly know who was a spreader of Error who a troubler of the Church who was refractory herein and whose repentance was either to be expected or to be despair'd 3. Where among us is the Man whose Soul is qualified with the affection of Paul to be led to the like wish with the like mind For without all doubt all the motive Paul had was a sincere zeal to God's glory and a true love to Man's Salvation But we in the like case what ever words we may pretend can hardly say We have purged our Souls from the leven of malice and hatred 4. Paul as we have seen wished not their death simply and absolutely but with a potiority of their repentance that they might rather be reclaimed and therefore he referres the issue wholly to the pleasure of God leaving his wish to depend on God's will If it be therefore unlawful it be to wish the death of one whom we call Heretick in that meaning we put upon it much less is it lawful to put him to death Nay this latter is unlawful though the former were supposed lawful For he that wisheth another Man's death doth commit the act ot the will of God as it shall stand with the pleasure of God that he live or die but he that attempts another's death by Mans hand hath already determined what is to be done without any farther discuss of the matter And it is lawful to wish many a thing were done which notwithstanding to do we have no lawful Power Although then to Paul it were lawful to wish the death of Hereticks yet it follows not therefore that it is lawful for the Magistrate to put them to death For hath God granted to the Magistrate power over the conscience or given him the Sword with such a large commission that thereby he must needs be armed not only against offending Hereticks but also against all true and innocent Christians which equally lye open to the stroke of his sword seeing the less Christian any Man is the more prone he is to condemn another for an heretick and the more carnal he is the more violent he grows to maintain an humane tradition against a Divine Verity because this latter suiteth less with his carnal waies and many Men in Authority do not embrace the sincerity of Religion but use it rather as an instrument for their worldly policy Or hath God given to the Magistrate the Judgment of the conscience or the discerning of Spirits to determine truly between the true and the false Seeing Men of Rule and power whose entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven is a thing of great difficulty and who are commonly imploy'd in other affairs than the care of Religion are not alwaies competent Judges in these cases especially seeing many such Persons are not studied in the cases of Heresy neither are their cases laid out by any Law either of God or Man How then can the Magistrate judge of that wherein by his calling he hath no judgment And for him to commit a matter of that moment to the arbitrement of another is hard adventure seeing he can with no safety execute the sentence but alwaies with danger of
Judgment and moderation and meekness withal to use it it will cheat him unreasonably For he will as Narcissus dote upon himself and be puffed up with his vast knowledg and memory and will think he hath all Judgment and count himself an Oracle to foretel all Contingencies and resolve all Difficulties when a plain honest man of good understanding shall see farther into a Milstone than he But if withal this full-fraught person can brave it out with the fine come off and twang of a golden Tongue Eloquence he shall catch the Vulgar by the ears All he saies or does shall be Gospel the simple Rout shall hang upon his lips and he will hug himself with the Excellencies that are in him and drain the purses of the Rich of poor apprehension And now he is come up to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understands all Necessaries and searches no farther for satisfaction in any thing The Common Truths are enough for him and indeed for his capacity and they that go farther he says will speed worse and things dear bought and far fetcht are good for Ladies and such are counted fools for their pains or worse that trouble themselves to understand more than their Neighbours In a word a smooth Tongue and well hung to let flie at any thing shall jangle and descant upon any tune but a judicious ear finds out the jars and discords therein A man may colour over a rotten Post rant it highly in the Pulpit and carry all afore him but when all comes to be scan'd by a judicious and discerning Soul it cannot possibly hold water With all this their Learning they are not wise and how can these men be honest all this while I 'de very fain know that preach what they know cannot be justified but for gain and applause they hold it out and rail at honest and judicious men that speak home and plainly as they should do though they get not the wealth and glory which they have And such are our systematical Methodmongers blundering in their Dichotomies after the way of Ramus or Keckerman And such are our more aery and subtil Schoolmen vapouring in the way of Aristotle and such are our fluent long winded Orators expatiating in the way of Cicero and such are our sublime intoxicated Enthusiastick Behemists and Rostcrucians and such are our whining Devotionists floating in their blind and zealous Formalities I bear them record they are good and well-meaning Souls and if they would but use their own Judgments might prove excellent Doctors Demonstration In Arts and Sciences why should I rest upon meer probabilities and topical turnable Arguments Why should there not be as high Demonstrations in the Reasons of things as there are of numbers or lines or figures or experiments There wants a deeper search into things to satisfie the Judgment as well as to tickle the fancy or imagination I would not be a fool in my knowledge but especially in my practice Law-makers of all men had need be wise by whom others must live though they like not the Rule they live by In Faith and Religion I yield my Reason to the Scriptures which is but reason but to Superstions and will-Will-worship I yield not As for Confutations as they are used they are odious Confutations reproachful and uncharitable Let every Error be fairly answered without dirt cast upon the person or sect of any Let both causes be heard once and let them say all they can say on both sides with candour but no Duplications Triplications Quadruplications c. in infinitum tossing the Ball of contention everlastingly and let the world judge I hate no man for differing from me for I differ as much from him and put this to that But if the error be a Blasphemy or hurt the Will to make it dishonest or disturb the peace I stand aloof from that Monster This is all I mean I am not willing to swallow every gudgeon nor to draw in every Notion that goes off roundly but not soundly in an embroidered discourse I would gladly be satisfied with less gawdy words and more solid sense Of all Sects Papists the Papists have most imposed upon the world by Judaism and Paganism which they so abound with that the power of Godliness is little discerned How do they most shamefully deny marriage to some men contrary to the Laws of Nature and Nations What a Masse of Ceremonies do they load the People withal and to what purpose and who hath required these things at their hands How do they lay all the stress of Baptism the Eucharist Confession c. upon the Priest who if never so little failing in order intention or execution all is a nullity as if Faith were not all in all to make us all Priests or all that we do or is done to us to be effectual through Christ What a stress do they lay upon Fasting Sackcloth Pilgrimages Reliques Confessions Indulgences Dirges Masses Avemaries Agnus Dei's Rosaries and such Trumperies How like are they to the Heathens in their Images and Purgatories What a stress do they lay upon Infallibility Supremacy Succession c. The truth is all is policy ambition and covetousness God forgive their Leaders The poor people are greatly to be pitied for their Ignorance because the most part being bred to trades and worldly business either have no capacities or no leisure to examine the fooleries of their Religion but if they do they dare not speak and so fear and custome and gain and pomps lull them asleep Offences But what should I more say for the time would fail me to speak of all the vulgar Errors and Fallacies of the Sons of men I conclude with our Saviours words Wo be unto the World because of offences but wo to them by whom the offences come and except they repent they had better never have been born or been like the untimely fruit of a woman which never saw the Sun Two Testaments To conclude at last having been a little too far transported The reason of my undertaking this present Work is because I observe our vulgar systematick Divines that take all upon trust do generally blend the two Testaments both together making them but one in effect as if First and Second Old and New Bondage and Freedom Law and Gospel Works and Grace Justice and Mercy Letter and Spirit Time and Eternity Shadow and Substance Earth and Heaven Body and Soul Curse and Blessing Merit and Gift Death and Life Hell and Heaven were not two distinct things I need premise no more the Reader may easily observe all along throughout the whole discourse this vein runs of distinguishing the Law from the Gospel A point I humbly conceive which as it much conduces to the true understanding of the Scriptures in dividing the word of God aright in which appears the wonderful and manifold Wisdom of the Most High So is the Interest and Peace of the Church much to be
due yea Grace gives much good when much evil is due The Law is inexorable and spares none but Grace is easie to be entreated and spares all For Grace is a priviledge above Law rather than extremely contrary to Law An act of Super-justice rather than contrary to Justice For Mercy rejoyceth and triumpheth over Justice as being the special and highest work of God in which he most delighteh This is the Trone of Grace this is the Mercy-Seat Throne of Grace the great Court of Requests and of Chancery Ubi Jus fit Jus datur where Rights are made and where Rights are bestowed whereas in other Courts of Law Rights are only declared Such Courts are much inferior Ubi Jus dicitur where Rights are declared upon Justice to those higher ones where they are created and granted upon Mercy and Bounty and God's Mercies are above all his Works 3. So God's Grace is opposed to Wrath in extremes Wrath. As Grace gives more good than is due by Law so Wrath gives more evil than is due by Law And this Wrath God executes by taking the Sword into his own hands and punishing our sins himself beyond the ordinary way of the Law as Kings by their Prerogatives may do by Wrath to execute Vengeance more than the bare Law calls for upon some extraordinary offences on some extraordinary occasions which they themselves can best judge of especially when the Inferior Judge is negligent of his duty in not inflicting the Punishment which the Law required and when sins have been done with a high hand in open defiance of Rule and Law to the endamagement of the Commonwealth Unto this Wrath God's Grace is extremely opposed For when Law and Anger were heavily against an obstinate Sinner and the Sword of both threatens to devour in an extraordinary way then steps in Mercy and stops the Flood-gate of Anger and saves the dying Soul from the Pit of Ruine which was ready to swallow him up because God sees remorse in him though he have been notoriously wicked yet it is the good will and pleasure of God for the Glory of his Grace to spare as a Father spareth his Son that serveth him to blot out iniquities transgressions and sins and to remember them no more but that they shall be as though they had never been and now that Soul shall live he shall not die SECTION I. Works 4. So God's Grace is opposed to Works which are the Merit of the Creature but this is the Grace of the Creatour Works deserve wages but Eternal life is the gift of God Grace dignifies a Person that deserves it not No man can deserve to be born of his Father or after he is born he cannot deserve to be made the Son and Heir of another man But the only cause of a Son is Love either by Nature or by Adoption and therefore the only cause to be made the Son of God is the Grace of God not the Works of Man Free Grace Such love of God is the Grace of God whereby the Receiver is honoured and profited and yet he never deserved it This is free Justification by Grace Ro. 3.24 of Faith and therefore not of Works that it might be by Grace only otherwise Grace were no more Grace and Works were no more Works This is the Riches of God's Grace whereby we are accepted in the Beloved The gift by Grace the kindness and good will of God This Grace of God is without Cause it is it self the supreme and high cause having no other Cause above or beyond it to actuate and move it Nor can any Works so much as concur with Grace because Grace is the sole Cause For if Salvation were of Works it should be of Debt and then it could not be of Grace They are inconsistent and contrary the one to the other Ro. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the Reward reckoned not of Grace but of Debt But if it be of Grace it is of Gift and then it cannot be of Works Ro. 11.6 And if of Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done Tit. 35. but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost By this Grace I a poor miserable Sinner attainted in the attainder of Adam's sin and born to temporal and eternal Miseries am looked upon with the eye of Mercy to be justified from all my Sin and Misery and to be invested with Holiness and Happiness And the farther Love and Grace of God to me is that all this should be done in a Testamentary way whereby I should be the more sure of it For such an Instrument as a Testament is requires all the favourable construction that can be imagined that it may take effect according to the best meaning of the Testator Rich Grace And still the Exceeding riches of his Grace appears that he did settle this his Testament by the Death of Christ who was his own and only Son whom he substituted to die in his stead For God could have setled his Testament by means less chargeable than was the precious Blood of his own Son but he could not to shew the abundance of his Love who so loved the World as that he sent his only begotten Son into the same and gave him over unto death that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And lastly all this is Grace for Grace that is freely and out of mere Grace and only for the Thanks of the Receiver SECTION II. I have enough then to uphold my Soul withal till I die Assurance and when I die to lie down with my Body in hope of a glorious Resurrection And after my death my Soul shall wait for it and at last it will come at which time my Saviour will come again and call me from the Regions and Receptacles of Rest to put my Soul and Body both into the full possession of the Inheritance to which I have a present Right by Faith in the New Testament of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Against this New Testament established by Jesus Christ the Jews did mightily stickle Jews loth to leave the Law Because the Old Testament was God's Testament written and God had made a solemn Testimony thereof on Mount Sinai where with terrible Lightning and Thunder and the shrill sound of the Trumpet and by the Fire and Smoak and the quaking of the Mountain and the voice of the Angel who represented God it was testified in the sight and hearing of all the People And also because this Law and Testament had a long prescription of fifteen hundred years together and in such cases men do use to struggle very hard and are loth to part with their so ancient Laws Customes and Priviledges especially concerning their Religion and Worship and a Change is commonly very
of God have been thoughts of love and kindness in him all along from the beginning of the world but especially in the days of the Gospel And that God's love was always to mankind though not so clearly demonstrated as it is now by Christ How therefore this frowning face of terrors and amazements in his dealings here giving mortals no rest for the little space he hath afforded them to stay in this world and plunging them into eternal torments in the world to come can consist with the gentleness and justice of his nature I can in no wise be satisfied I am not able to conceive of a good Prince but that he will be always careful to preserve the lives and fortunes of his good Subjects and use all possible means to reduce the rebellions and still to be sparing of the blood of his People even where his Justice calls for it Nay every petty King of a Town or Family will do the same within the circuit of his power How much more then shall the Great and Gracious not only Potentate but Creator and Redeemer of the World hover over his poor creatures and servants for good and be infinitely and therefore inexpressibly tender of their Temporal and Eternal Wellfare But I am told that God reprobates the far greatest part of the world to shew the Glory of his Justice and absolute Soveraignty over his creatures And here I must cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depth and if I be one of these Cast-aways must be as the rest contented and for ever silent 'T is true I must if so and there can be no help for it nor must Mortals complain for who art thou O Man that thou shouldest dispute against God But how these men more than others of equal judgments should come to this pitch of Knowledg to determine this thing thus I cannot imagine nor whence they had this revelation And how this agrees with God's declaration of himself to be willing that all men should be saved and come to the knowledg of the Truth and not to delight in the death of any Sinner will put them to a stand Well however it is I am sure that God is good and if God hath given men reason to understand what is Justice and Mercy how the wisdom of God though infinitely above should be as infinitely contrary to this our humane understanding will be very hard to conceive Still Justice is Justice and Mercy is Mercy in God or Man though in vast differences of degrees We shall never know how but we may always know that God is Just and can and will do us no wrong I take the safest side therefore I hope if I interpret humbly all his dispensations though seemingly never so harsh to be cum favore that if he do as certainly he does severely punish yet he will as graciously reward those that fear him for all their miseries in this life And if God inflicts as he doth the same Calamnities now under the Gospel as he did before under the Law yet it is in a different manner in the Church's Majority from what it was in her Minority And that though the former Dispensation was in wrath yet now it is in Grace and was always just Well let the Inhabitants of the earth work righteousness as well as they can and trust God for his Mercies and through the tender mercies of God they shall be sure never to miscarry I am certain Grace is Grace and above Wrath though I suffer never so much And that God does not dodgenor lie upon the catch with mankind to destroy them but rather waits for their conversion to save them I will trust in God therefore though I am never able to understand the reasons of his workings From henceforth I will never go about to measure the depths of God's Providences by the shallowness of my comprehensions I will be meditating and doing good and leave all to God But it is high time to leave this dreadful Subject of mis-representing God in his Counsels so fatal to mankind Gospel-Dispensations Let us see what other mis-understandings there are of God's Dispensations God was pleased suitably to the non-age of the Church to address himself very much to the lower faculties of the Soul and the outward senses that were nearest to them and did most affect them Therefore he ordained splendid Types solemn services and many miracles as the pillar of a Cloud and of Fire the walls of water in the Red Sea the burning Mount Sinai the tabernacle and rays of Glory visible therein the Temple c. But they which look for any such apparent Expressions of Divinity now mistake the Genius of a Gospel-Dispensation to a Church Adult and capable of higher Administrations All things since Christ's coming are managed in a sedate smooth and serene temper The mysteries of the Gospel came forth in plain and intelligible forms of Speech from Mount Sion without drawing the Soul into Raptures and Extasies of amazements God doth not fright men into heaven by visible Terrours God expects now a reasonable Service a Judicious Religion acted by the Spirit of Love and of a sound mind under the Graces Truths and Glories of a Gospel-state for ever to endure This Spirit of the Gospel arriving to our Spirits in this aimable and winning manner creates a generous Spirit above the Evils or Goods in this world resolved to go through them and overcome them and settle upon absolute Eternal Goodness When men's hopes and fortunes are most embarqued in the Ship of this World without Faith They are in continual fears of Shipwrack because then all is lost that is before their sense But when men's hopes and fortunes are all embarqued in one bottom of Divine Faith they are in continual Hopes and Assurances of arrival in the Haven of Glory because then all is found that was before their Spirit in the Eye of Faith This Hope so full of glorious and blessed Immortality hath supported the spirits of such as live by their Faith better than all the Fatality of the Stoicks or the Jollity of the Epicureans These can look Sin and Death in the face by the Spirit and not be daunted by the Flesh The high Religion of the Gospel teacheth higher things than ever that of Moses or the Law of Nature or Nations or Philosophy could do Reformation This great Reformation of Religion in the World Christ declared plainly to the woman of Samaria requiring of him as a Prophet to tell her the place of worship whether it was not to be upon Mount Gerizim in Samaria where the Fathers had worshiped and not in Jerusalem as the Jews believed Upon this occasion he told her that neither she nor the Samaritans her Country-men nor the Jews nor yet the Gentiles of the World should from that time ever trouble themselves about the place or manner of Divine worship For it should be neither confined to Samaria nor Judea but should
be enlarged to all places in the World and that not after this nor that manner of outward and carnal worship but after the only manner of inward and spiritual Service John 4.24 for God was a Spirit and therefore the true worshippers of God should always worship him in Spirit and in Truth From hence therefore the world is given to understand the two great Doctrines First That the true worship of God is onely Spiritual Secondly That there is greater perfection in Christianity than in Judaism or Heathenism Worship Spiritual 1. That the True Worship of God is only Spiritual Religion is a Spiritual service that is Prayers Praisings Eucharists Acts of Love Acts of Faith Acts of Hope Acts of Humility Fasting Alms c. Excepting the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper whose effects are Spiritual Sense mysterious Rites easie and number smallest I dare in meekness and charity challenge all perswasions to shew me if they can in the whole Digest of the Christian Law any other external Rite or Ceremony enjoyned or that is necessary that it should be enjoyned Reason Because as the Christian Religion intends wholly an exclusion of all Mosaick Ceremonies made by God so it will not admit of a Body of new and superinduced Rites made by men for they are or may be as much against the Analogy of the spiritual Worship of Jesus Christ as the body of Rites made by Moses and more because they were made by the Will of God but these meerly by the Wills of men Ceremonies The Ceremonies of the Christian Services may be Practised but must be no part of Religion it self but either the Circumstances thereof or the imperate acts of some moral Virtue As thus The Christian must be in some place when he prays and that place may and it is fit it should be determined by Authority for the publick prayers and thither he must go and yet for his private prayers he may go any where else And so for preaching And because the Religious actions of a Christian are finite therefore they must be done as in a place so at a time and that time may and it is fit it should be determined by Authority and then he must do his Devotions in publick at that time only but for his private devotions he may do them at any time else The Religious Actions of a Christian must be in some posture of his Body and that posture may be appointed and it is fit it should be appointed by Authority for the publick worship as to kneel or stand or bow c. and then he must do it in that posture that he is commanded in that publick place and yet he may use what postures he pleases at any other time or place for his private devotions And when the Christian comes to the publick place at the time appointed for Publick Prayer his prayers though in the Spirit must be of some form or manner of expressions by words and that form and manner of expressions by words may and it is fit it should be ordained by Authority for the whole Congregation openly and yet he may be and is at liberty to use what other form he pleases in his private addresses to God And this is enough to satisfie all those that have the true spirit of Christ who though he had no need of the Circumcision of the Law nor yet of the Baptism of the Gospel because there was no superfluity of evil to him to be cut off nor any stain of sin to be washed away yet he suffered himself to be circumcised and baptized and did obey that Law which he came to abolish and was subject to those Powers that were then over him in the world and quarrelled at nothing but was willing to fulfill all Righteousness And if our Fanaticks had the true spirit of Christ they would do as he did and be obedient to his Laws and to the Laws of the Powers that God hath set over them The Differences betwixt the Mosaick Rites under the Law and the Christian Rites Difference of Mosaick and of Christian Rites besides what Christ himself hath ordained under the Gospel are these 1. The Mosaick Rites were only appointed by God but these Christian Rites are appointed by men 2. They were necessary parts of that Religion that then was so far as it was discerned but these are not 3. The Mosaick Ceremonies did oblige every where but the Christian only in publick 4. They were integral parts of the Jewish Religion but these are but circumstances and investitures of our Religious Actions 5. They were done all of them in the spirit of Bondage and great fear but ours are done in the Spirit of Liberty and great Love They were lasting as long as that Religion was to last but ours are alterable though our Religion be everlasting 7. They were many and burdensome and very costly for they were at greater charges to buy Cattel c. for the Sacrifices and the Priests and Levites were as Butchers and Porters and Cooks to knock down Oxen or cut the throats of Calves c. and slay them c. but ours are few and easie and cheap but neither theirs nor ours did or ever will please God The sum is the Ceremonies of Christians they may be the accidents of their worship they must be no more but a just investiture of Time Place Form Habit and Posture He that would have his body decently vested must not wear five and twenty Cloaks a Stole and a Tunick will suffice some thing for warmth and something for ornament does well But as the tender and delicate Woman that will scarcely vouchsafe to set her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness and thinks no ornaments curious enough for her head and the rest of her body makes it the work of half a day to dress and deck her self is a slave to her fine trinkets and thinks neither her Soul nor Body but her habiliments to be the principal part of her care So they that are superstitious and over much righteous in Will-worship and count no formalities nor bodily exercises enough to set out their Devotions are servants to their Beads and trumperies and think not of the substance of Religion but make the out sides thereof the principal part of their care Church of Rome Thus the Church of Rome whose Ceremonies are described in a great Book in folio Quem mea vix totum Bibliotheca capit and my purse strings will not stretch to buy it And although by such means Religion is made pompous and apâ—â—o allure them that admire their gay nothing yet then it also spends their Religious passions and wonderments in that which effects nothing upon the Soul The Priest must be intent upon his Rubrick that he miss nothing of his Bowings Crosses Anointings Sprinklings Perfumes c. and the people are taken up with staring upon the dumbe Images the Larges and the Priests
Actions with hearkening to the unknown Service and the loud Singings and melody of Instruments all which noises and starings conjure up their joys dolours and amazements to the dazling of the understanding and confounding of the Memory and Will of the Inward man during the hurry that is upon the Senses of the Outward man Thus the Heathens made their Religion a Systeme of pitiful Rites sneaking and beggarly Entertainments Hay and Stubble fit enough for such Deities as they served but most nasty and unbecoming and odious to the Most High God Whatever is grave decent and orderly in the Outward Worship of a Christian is not to be rejected but if it be not these it is not to be imposed and when even these become numerous or grievous they are to be removed by the same lawful hand that brought them in Now although the Spirituality of the Gospel excludes all shadows of Ceremonies and all bodily Rites from being of the substance of Religion yet this Spirituality does not exclude the Ministry and Service of the Body For the Worship of the Body may also be Spiritual it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.1 and therefore Spiritual Thus the Body Bowing Kneeling Standing Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven in Prayer and Praise in Hearing and Communicating in bowels of Yerning Compassion and giving of Alms are all acceptable upon the account of the Spirit because the Body serves the Spirit and the Spirit serves God and all is made a Spiritual worship Reason The Virtues of a Christian are acts and habits of a sanctified Soul whose faculties have each a proper organ of the Body that as the Graces and Endowments of the Soul are commencements and dispositions unto glory So the Spiritual Ministeries of the Body may dispose it to its perfect Spirituality in the Resurrection of the Just But then these Ministeries of the Body are then only to be judged Spiritual service when the Soul and the Body make but one entire agent the act of the soul and body being but one and the same product of Religion whereof the soul is the principal agent and from thence the Actions of the Body are denominated spiritual Whatsoever act of the body is an elicite or imperate act of Virtue or the proper and specifick act of Grace in the Soul is a part of Religion otherwise it is the instrument of vice or vanity and not of the Soul As to give all our goods to the Poor to give our bodies to be burned to have all faith to the removal of mountains c. are but the outsides of Religion and good for nothing unless they proceed from Charity a willing and loving spirit a heart true and right to God for then such a faith justifies such giving to the poor is true Alms and such giving the body to be burned is true Martyrdome 2. Perfection of Christianity That there is a greater Perfection in Christianity than in Judaism or Heathenism Because the Old Testament made nothing perfect therefore the New Testament made all things perfect being established upon better Promises 1. Endeared to us by new instances of Infinite Love and 2. We enabled by many more excellent Graces of the Holy Spirit 1. The Christians under the New Instances and the Jews under the Old Covenant do both of us pray but we are commanded to pray more frequently fervently and continually 2. They and we must be both charitable but they were tied only to their friends and neighbours but we to our enemies and strangers We have more brethren and more neighbours and therefore more is our duty than theirs They were to do their brethren and neighbours no hurt but we must do them and our enemies all good They were to forgive upon submission and repentance but we must invite them to repentance and offer pardon if they will not repent They were to give bread to their needy brethren but we are in some cases to give our lives for the brethren 3. They were to love God with all their Souls and with all their strength and though we cannot do more than this yet we can do more than they did For our Strengths are more our understandings are better instructed Eph. 6.10 c. our Wills more raised our helps far greater our shield stronger our breast-plate broader our armour of Righteousness more of proof than theirs was Dares and Entellus did both contend with all their strength but because Entellus had much more strength than Dares therefore he was the better champion of the two A Child and a Giant do both put forth all the strength they have but because the Giant is stronger than the Child therefore he is the more perfect A Scholar and a Master do both teach the best they can but because the Master hath the greater knowledg therefore he must needs teach far better 1. In the internal acts of virtue a Christian is to be more zealous and operative aiming at excellencies and perfections 2. In the external acts of virtue a Christian must out-do a Jew in prudent zeal They adorned their Temple gave gifts loved all of their perswasion laboured to get proselytes but were uncivil to all others They were bound to pay tithes we are commanded to allow an honourable Maintenance not more work but more love In those Graces which are proper to the Gospel literally and plainly exacted of us and but obscurely insinuated or collaterally required of them we are to adorn the Gospel and advance to an higher and brisker duty Because we have a more spritely Law a clearer revelation greater threatnings better promises and mightier aids 1. Every man must observe the new sanctions or new interpretations of the Old super-added by Christ in his Sermon upon the Mount 2. Every man must do in proportion to all the aids of the Spirit ministred in the Gospel all that he can do which will amount to more than the usual rate of Moses's Law 3. Every Christian must be infinitely removed from Jewish sins such as were Idolatry Obstinacy Hypocrisie Oppression of Strangers sensual and low Appetites of Honour Peace Plenty c. 4. Every Christian must do all their works in Faith and Love In faith to make them accepted because without faith 't is impossible to please God though they be imperfect In love to make them as perfect as they can be Reason Because every Christian hath clearer hopes of a glorious and blessed Immortality The State of our Religion is high for 1. The purity of Commandments 2. Gracious Aids and Endearments 3. The great Example of Jesus 1 John 3.2 3. We are the Sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and appear with him in Glory And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as God is pure That is 1. We are the
days which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world Why as though living in the world are ye subject to Ordinances touch not taste not handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in Will-worship and humility and neglecting of the Body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh ib. v. 13. Blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross There are many proofs more to this purpose too long to set down here Because all other Ritual worship superinduced by Men must needs be Reas II as much contrary to the Analogy of Christ's worship No other rites to be superinduced and more than that of the Law was Because no Rites in themselves ever did or will please God Witness Reas III God's declaration that of old he never imposed Sacrifices upon them No rites ever pleased God and when he did he preferred Mercy and Obedience before them and says he never delighted in them and the Prophets all along called for this kind of Sacrifice in comparison whereof all others were an abomination unto him and he was weary of them Because greater perfection is required in the Christian than was in the Reas IV Jewish Religion Greater Perfection in the Christian Religion But against this kind of doctrine flie forth a swarm of Objections from the Wasps of the world This spiritual worship and perfection you speak of Obj. is hard to understand and harder to practise A hard saying who can hear it And if so who then can be saved You may understand and practise both by the Spirit Answ if you will learn and obey with your Reason and your Will The Mind and Will of the Flesh is dull to know and stout to do such spiritual things and indeed she neither can nor will act any thing towards it till it yield to the Spirit For the Carnal man understandeth not the things of God neither indeed can he because they are spiritually discerned The Spirit only understandeth the things of the Spirit and the Flesh only understandeth the things of the Flesh The Gospel is a light to our Spirit to understand it by and the Spirit of God is a light to the Gospel and Christ is the person in whom is this Spirit of whose fullness we all receive who is the light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world John 1.9 This Light is come into the World but the Darkness comprehendeth it not because the world loveth darkness rather than light because her deeds are evil Ceremonies are a great help to Devotion Obj. But Devotion brought them forth the Daughter destroys the Mother Answ They be few easie and significant and used with liberty of spirit yet God hath no where in the Gospel commanded them but forbidden such as are Jewish and Heathenish the rest that make for decency and order being enjoyned by the Church are freely to be used trusting in all things to the aids of the Spirit which helpeth all our Infirmities Use therefore all honest helps but trust to the Spirit have recourse to that Fountain and covet after the best gifts Behold I shew unto you a more excellent way The world is not able to bear these high Dispensations Obj. Why then hath God introduced them If they were impossible Answ there could no obligation be upon us to bear them nor could God be Just in imposing them The World is in its Majority now God saw it to be the time of Love the Fullness of Time The World is Older and might be Wiser than it is O that Men were Wise to learn to know in this their day of Visitation the things that do belong to their Peace 1. We have or might have heard of all God's dispensations before and under the Law and of this last and best under the Gospel what revelations providences and administrations of justice mercy and power by miracles God hath wrought 2. We have the great example of Jesus and the Saints a cloud of Witnesses before us 3. We have the New Testament read and preached with the inward teaching of the Spirit If we will not learn by all these more than they could that had not these assistances Is it not our own faults And shall we not be without excuse Wo unto us if we now bring not forth more fruits worthy of Repentance than they did who came short of the Means we have The times of the former ignorance that was not willful God winked at and forgave them because they knew not what they did for had they known better things they would have done them as many as had honest hearts Mat. 13.14 Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear For verily I say unto you that many Prophets and Righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear John 8.56 and have not heard them Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad All the old Worthies died in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth Heb. 11.23 39 40. All these having obtained a good report through faith received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect What went ye out for to see A Prophet yea I say unto you and more than a Prophet Verily I say unto you among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he Mat 11.9 c. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by force for all the Prophets and the Law prophecied until John He that hath ears to hear let him hear When I was a Child I thought as a Child I spake as a Child I did as a Child but when I became a Man I put away childish things The childhood of the World is past Heb. 5.12 c. For our time we might have been teachers and not have need to be taught again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God we are dull of hearing Every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of Righteousness for he is a Babe But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil Heb. 6.1 Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ